As a method for teaching how to operate a personal computer, online personal computer lesson systems using videophones have been proposed. In such conventional systems, an instructor's personal computer and a student's personal computer are connected via a standard telephone line, and share each other's screen image on their PC screens.
Nevertheless, this system has some drawbacks. One drawback is that, if a personal computer (PC) goes down (i.e., operation failure) during the operation or the like, a telephone line is disconnected. Once this happens, it is impossible to communicate with the instructor and to continue the PC lesson. Another drawback is that, when a PC goes down, the only option is to reboot the PC, reconnect with the instructor's PC, and resume a lesson all over again. In this case, tasks achieved and the time spent in the previous lesson are wasted.
This invention is made to solve these problems. An object of this invention is therefore to provide a personal computer lesson system using videophones, wherein the connection of personal computers is separated from the communication facility of videophones. In this system, even if a personal computer goes down during a lesson, the videophone facility allows the lesson to go on.